Behind the scenes

Women’s World Cup: a sticker lull looms

Stephan Kurmann
20.7.2023
Translation: Patrik Stainbrook

Over the next few weeks, the Land Down Under will play host to all things footy: this year’s Women’s World Cup will take place in Australia and New Zealand. But unlike previous World Cups, hardly anyone is buying the legendary Panini stickers. To equal the sticker sales of the Qatar World Cup, 280 times the current number or cards sold would have to end up in the shopping cart of football fans.

Preliminary info: this article isn’t about betting odds, football sponsorship or equal pay across genders in top-class sports, only about everyone’s favourite 54x65mm trading cards: Panini stickers.

Today marks the kick-off of the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. The Swiss women’s football team is also taking part, for the second time since 2015.

Where’s all the Panini fever?

For decades, major football events have been accompanied by Panini stickers and the corresponding scrapbooks. But among sticker collectors, Panini fever doesn’t seem to have broken out (yet) in the run-up to the World Cup in Oceania. This is evident from Galaxus sales figures.

Many vendors skip out on sticker sales

Retailers are also partly responsible for this, as well-known players such as Migros, Aldi and Lidl aren’t selling stickers for the current World Cup. More than half of the Valora chain’s kiosk outlets are also dispensing with sticker sales.

Although Panini stickers are available at Galaxus, sales are modest compared to previous World Cups. To date, orders are in the double digits.

Panini FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 Sticker Collection (German)
Trading Cards

Panini FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 Sticker Collection

German

To be fair, the World Cup only starts today and the stickers have only been available for order at Galaxus since July 14. In addition, only Panini stickers for the current World Cup 2023 are available for purchase – albums and bundle offers (stickers and album combined) aren’t available here.

Sticker sales: 280 times less than for the Qatar World Cup

To match the sales figures for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, customers would have to order 77 times more stickers than they have to date.

While sales of soccer jerseys were sluggish during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Panini stickers were flying off the virtual shelves. To equal the sticker sales of the Qatar World Cup, 280 times more stickers would have to end up in the shopping carts of soccer fans.

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FYI: a comparison with the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France wasn’t possible, as no stickers were available at Galaxus for that event.

Are you a Panini fan or did you used to be one? Or do you think sticker collecting is a waste of time and money? Join the discussion in the comments.

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